Sunday, February 22, 2015

Treaty of Saigon (1862)

In the 1850’s, Asia faced a growing
threat from the mighty industrialized nation of the West. France and Britain began
an active harassment and conquest of many independent countries in the Far
East. China had already tasted defeat in the hands of the modern steam-engine
warships of the British. By the late 1850’s, China’s client state in Southeast
Asia – Vietnam – also faced the prospect of succumbing to the nuisances of
Westerners. The Treaty of Saigon symbolizes the result of the gunboat diplomacy
of Europeans to the Vietnamese.

The Vietnamese and the French signed
the Treaty of Saigon on June 1862. The Treaty concluded the campaign of theFrench in Southern Vietnam, otherwise known as Cochinchina. The overwhelming
firepower of the French led to the Vietnamese to sue for peace, which led to
its signing.

But how events played that led to the
signing of the Treaty of Saigon? What were the contents of the Treaty? Lastly, what
were its effects?

Vietnam in the middle of the 19th
century stood as one of the prominent powers in Southeast Asia, excluding the
European presence. Much of its history, Vietnam had strong ties with the
Chinese, most evident when it adopted the ideas of Confucianism. At that time,
the half-century old Nguyen Vietnam competed with Siam for influence over Laos
or then known as Luang Phrabang and Cambodia. Internally, the Vietnamese
officials and the Nguyen Emperor felt uneasy. For more than fifty years,
Christian missionaries, both French and Spanish, had converting Vietnamese into
their religion. By 1840’s, Christian in Vietnam numbered to over half a
million. The officials suspected the missionaries as foreign agents working for
the downfall of Vietnam. In addition, they saw Christianity as a threat to the
Confucian establishment. The Nguyen Emperor felt the same and instituted
persecutions against the Christians. In the process, some foreign missionaries
perished.

Only ambition and opportunity made
France to stand tougher against Vietnam. By the 1850’s Chinese trade became
more profitable. In addition, France needed more natural resources for its
industries and new markets for its products. Combining the two, they decided to
look for a colony in the Far East. They saw Vietnam as a starting point. In the
late 1850’s the Vietnamese government once against executed Christian
missionaries. This gave the French an excuse to launch a conquest of Vietnam.
Already engaged in the Opium War in China, some French warship sailed south
towards Vietnam and began an assault in the area. In 1858, under Admiral Charles
Rigault de Genouilly, French forces attacked the port of Da Nang. However, it
failed to hold because of overwhelming Vietnamese resistance. The French
decided to move south and captured the major city in Southern Vietnam – Saigon.
From there they captured the peripheral provinces and defeating the Vietnamese
forces. By 1862, the Vietnamese had enough. They sued for peace.

The negotiations resulted to the
signing of the Treaty of Saigon on June 5, 1862. The Vietnamese sent its
seasoned official Phan Thanh Gian to negotiate with his French counterpart,
Louis Adolphe Bonard. Eventually, the two came up an agreement that favored
France tremendously. France capitalized on its victories in Southern Vietnam
and used the Treaty to cement its control over the region. The Treaty gave
France control over the three surrounding provinces of Saigon: Bien Hoa, Dinh
Tuong, and Gia Dinh. In addition, France also took over the island of Poulo
Condore or Con Son. The Mekong River also became open to French warships
traversing to Cambodia. France also forbid Vietnam to cede lands to any power
without its prior authorization. France seemed wanted to secure Vietnam for its
own and made the clause to deter any Western powers in encroaching in its prey.
Moreover, the Treaty of Saigon guaranteed the freedom of proselytizing of
French and Spanish missionaries. It also made Vietnam open the ports of Da
Nang, Ba Lac, and Quang An open to trade with French and Spanish traders. And
lastly, Vietnam had to pay France an indemnity worth $4 million in a span of 10
years.

The Treaty brought displeasure to
Nguyen Emperor Tu Duc. But what could he do? They lose the lands militarily.
Some in the court asked the Emperor to dismiss the chief Vietnamese negotiator
on the Treaty. But Emperor Tu Duc hesitated.

On the other, France tasted its first
colonies in Cochinchina, and even the whole orient. The territories gained from
the Treaty of Saigon later on became cemented with the Treaty of Hue. From those
three provinces and Saigon France continued to extend its control over the
neighboring lands. It even used the Treaty of Saigon as the basis for its
conquest of Cambodia. The Treaty of Saigon meant the success of France’s use of
arms in order to extract what it wanted from its targets. For Vietnam, the
Treaty of Saigon meant a huge defeat, territorial and for its sovereignty.
Symbolically, it lose one of the main regions that made up their homeland. For
them, however, the Treaty of Saigon was just a start from a line of treaties it
would sign – a first death warrant for Vietnam’s independence.